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Equation 1 · Part 8 · The Real Economics of Shipping a Model to a Device

subscript

TCdistill=Cdistill+Q⋅cstudent,TC_{\mathrm{distill}} = C_{\mathrm{distill}} + Q \cdot c_{\mathrm{student}},
subscript

What this part means

The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.

Its job in the formula

A subscript distinguishes a version, component, step, or member of a quantity. It does not automatically mean multiplication.

The passage around this formula

That gap explains why distillation investment almost never fails its own break-even test once a product actually ships. Write the total cost of training and then serving a distilled student model as TCdistill=Cdistill+Q⋅cstudentTC_{\mathrm{distill}} = C_{\mathrm{distill}} + Q \cdot c_{\mathrm{student}}. against the cost of simply continuing to serve the teacher directly for the same query volume,

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Learn the underlying idea

A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

Open the illustrated subscripts: which member of a family? guide →

Sources cited in the article section

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.